Melissa Ruru and Danielle Quigley in action at the Waikato Open this weekend

Auckland, New
Zealand, January 29, 2014 - Round two of the New Zealand National Beach Volleyball Tour saw
the underdogs in the women's draw upset the hometown top seeds in a very tight
final at the Waikato Open, played at Lake Karapiro on the
weekend.

After
both finalists had comfortably made it through their section matches and
semi-finals, the relatively new combination of Melissa Ruru (Rotorua) and
Danielle Quigley (North Harbour) went out to an early lead against a
strangely-hesitant Hamilton combination of Shaunna Polley and Julia
Tilley. Although the hometown team fought back, some excellent float serving by
Ruru, the NZ Police women's sportsperson of 2013, kept them in front throughout
the set.

In an
even tighter second set, Polley and Tilley showed determination, and a reduced
error rate to eke out a 22-20 win on the back of two serve-receive errors by
their opponents in the last two points.

The
tie-breaker third set went almost point for point with the Hamilton duo looking
to break free at 13-12, before Quigley and Ruru made a series of great
defensive plays to set up their own attacks and win the final three points in a
row, taking their first-ever Tour event title.

In an
entertaining and hard-hitting men's final, top seeds Mike Watson and Sam O'Dea
(Tauranga) put a loose first set loss behind them, to stay in front throughout
the next two sets, and maintain their winning edge over the new combination of
younger brother Ben O'Dea and North Harbour's Tom Hartles.

The
hard-working Hartles has been one of New Zealand volleyball's big
improvers over the last three years. With the extremely hard-hitting Ben
O'Dea, and a reduced error-rate that should come through greater experience,
the pair are highly likely to gain the top podium spot before long.

In this
match, the experience of old-hand Watson, and the net domination of the tall
Sam O'Dea was enough to gradually wear down the enthusiasm of the younger team
and give them their second Tour title in a row.